vv. 4, 5, represent the miserable condition of the Jewish Church in the time of our Lord's ministry, and the utter negligence, covetousness, and hypocrisy of the appointed ministers of that church. v. 6 predicts the miserable events of the last days of the Jewish nation, and its destruction by him whom they acknowledged as their king, i. e. the Roman emperor. v. 7. The Messiah takes on Himself the office of Shepherd, and especially in regard of "the poor of the flock." v. 8. The destruction of the neglectful shepherds, their feelings towards the Messiah and His feelings towards them. vv. 9, 10, 14. The rejection of the Jewish nation, and the letting forth of the armies of the Gentiles against Jerusalem. v. 11. The assurance of the body of believers that this was all according to the Messiah's will. Matt. xxvi. 3, 4, 59; xxvii. 2, 20, 41, 62, Matt. xxi. 43; xxiii. 38. Luke xix. 42-44. Matt. xxvi. 14-16. Mark xiv. 10, 11. vv. 12, 13. The betrayal of the Messiah, and the striking circumstances attending it. Two other prophecies in this division are cited in the New Testament (ch. xii. 10), by St. John, xix. 34-37, and again in Rev. i. 7, and ch. xiii. 7; by our Lord in Matt. xxvi. 31. THE ENEMIES OF EDUCATION." SIR,-Will you allow me to call the attention of your readers to the following. Her Majesty's Inspector visits a school, and finds fault with the Grammar, History, and Geography; the certificated master replies that he is in want of books on those subjects. He (the master) subsequently recommends to the managers the little Elementary Series of the National Society; the children to purchase them at cost price. They reply that they consider that " poor children only require to read, write, and cipher," and thereby refuse their sanction; consequently the school will continue to be reported as inefficient in instruction, and the master probably lose his Augmentation Grant. The foregoing is the case of a near neighbour; my own is but a milder form of the same thing. I am constantly being annoyed and discouraged by the remarks of lady patronesses, who say that "such extreme education is an evil; it is quite enough when they can read their Bibles, write their names, and distinguish a sixpence from a shilling." One lady, on seeing my first-class of girls draw the map of Europe from memory, remarked: "Is it not ridiculous to see girls who will probably be my servants taught to do that which I cannot do myself?" I merely replied: " Improve your time; practice makes perfect; in elevating the mind we elevate the body." I would ask your readers how are such persons to be dealt with; these unreasonable opponents of education? For the amount of discouragement which their remarks produce in the minds of both master and children is most severe, especially as they are generally the only persons in the village from whom encouragement is expected and ought to be received.—I am, &c. MAITRE D'ÉCOLE. ON SCHOOL-REPORT. Llansantffraid, Glan Conway. SIR, I beg to state, in reply to "Alpha," that by School-report is usually understood-1st, A succinct description of the outer appearance of the schoolroom, playground, and buildings attached to the school, &c. Having briefly noticed the above heads, let the pupil proceed, 2dly, To describe fully the schoolroom inside, stating place or places of entrance, position of windows; with the internal arrangements of the appara tus, such as maps, tablets, books, &c. Also, to state into how many classes the school is divided; whether it be mixed or otherwise; whether the classes be in squares or parallel desks; in what, how, and by whom the several classes are generally taught. If any method of instruction has been advantageously carried on, it, with its advantages or disadvantages, should be briefly noticed. Should the above attempt at simplification be deemed worthy of insertion, I should feel greatly obliged. WILLIAM OWEN. ON TEACHING WRITING. School-House, Bourn. DEAR SIR,-Your subscribers must have read with great interest your correspondent's letter in the June Number of your valuable Periodical, as well as those in earlier numbers, on the subject of Writing. If you do not consider the subject already exhausted, I shall gladly avail myself of your wonted courtesy by soliciting you to insert the following, provided you deem the contents of sufficient importance. My experience in several agricultural counties has convinced me that the greater portion of the children belonging to the labouring classes leave school for work at a very early age, and long before they have attained to any thing like efficiency in writing; and those who are able at the time they leave school to write "Tom Bowles" tolerably on the slate, exhibit a lamentable deficiency in this important branch of education when in afterlife they attempt to use the pen and paper. I won't presume to discuss pro et con the various methods at present in use by which writing is taught; but I believe in most schools writing, at first, is taught exclusively upon the slate for a period of greater or less duration. Now it is, upon calculation, astonishing to learn what a great number of children per cent leave school during the period given to pen and slate practice; but those who continue at school long enough to commence with pen and paper, do so under a very great disadvantage. Their first attempts are too well-known-awkwardness in holding the pen, blots, &c.; and very many leave before they can command the pen at all; while others seldom, or never, attain to that freedom in handling the pen which is so essential to a good writer. I firmly believe that this initiatory slate practice leads to those cramped, stiff, and illegible specimens of writing we so often meet with; and as time is an important consideration, I would commence pen and paper at once, for I have found by experience that children cannot begin too soon to acquire freedom in using the pen, especially as by the Society's aid paper, &c. is within the reach of all. EXAMINATION PAPERS FOR SCHOOLS. E. NORTH. Wrawby Vicarage. SIR,-I have inserted an advertisement in your Monthly Paper to which, perhaps, you will allow me to call the attention of your readers, that I may explain the use of the examination questions. Believing that frequent examinations on paper are, in several respects, more advantageous to the scholars than oral ones, I have prepared these lists of questions on subjects from Holy Scripture, in order that I might try the effect of such examinations in the schools in my own parish. The subject should be set a month or a quarter beforehand, and the scholars daily instructed in it by the clergyman or the schoolmaster; and at the end of the month or quarter, a day should be devoted to the examination, the questions on the subject from Holy Scripture occupying the quarter part of the morning. Printed questions in arithmetic should be also given to the scholars, that they may work them on paper; and these are furnished by the exercises in arithmetic published by the Irish Board, when cut into suitable pieces, or by White's exercises in arithmetic, which are all printed on separate cards. This, with a few questions on geography and grammar written on the black-board, would probably form a sufficient examination for most National schools, and could be easily conducted by the clergyman or the schoolmaster. By apportioning a certain number of good marks to each question, the scholars could then be arranged in order of merit every month or quarter, and the list hung up in the school; and the first boy and girl should receive a reward at once. This system of examination gives a point for the scholars to aim at, and helps to keep up a lawful amount of emulation amongst them; and gives the examiner an opportunity of ascertaining their relative merits and their progress much better than an oral examination can ever do. I intend to prepare lists of questions on other great lessons of Holy Scripture, and suitable also to the chief seasons of the Christian year, when it again commences. As ruled paper can be had at 10d. a quire, the expense of these examinations is but trifling.-I am, &c. J. R. WEST. SANITARY REFORM. Hagley Rectory. SIR,-Perhaps you may think the enclosed worthy of publication in your Paper, for the sake of the practical suggestion it contains, which appears to me of great importance. It is (with the addition of a few sentences) a reprint of an article which I have contributed to the current Number of the Quarterly Journal of Public Health, a new periodical, which I should be glad to recommend to your readers.-I am, &c. W. H. LYTTELTON. ON THE PRACTICAL TEACHING OF SANITARY SCIENCE IN NATIONAL SCHOOLS. "I wish to draw the attention of sanitary reformers to the importance of making the first principles of sanitary science a part of the regular course of instruction in all national and day schools. It is evident that, until we are able to create a strong and intelligent public opinion among the working-classes themselves in favour of sanitary reform, all interference of boards of guardians, or of other official persons, can be only partially and imperfectly successful. Permanent sanitary officers invested with legal authority, such as are to be conferred upon us under Sir B. Hall's bill, will, indeed, be a great boon, and may do much. But so long as the poor are unwilling to obey sanitary laws, we shall be but like Sisyphus, constantly rolling stones to the tops of hills, which will immediately roll down again. Every guardian of the poor will tell us how many unwearied Penelopes there are in every village and town, who, chivalrous in their resistance to authority and love of dirt, will be always unweaving, under cover of darkness, the veil of decency and cleanliness which they were compelled by terrible sanitary suitors to weave in the daytime. You can lead unwilling horses to the water, but you cannot make them drink,' or wash themselves. Not Argus himself, as inspector of nuisances, aided by Briareus, with all his hundred hands employed in the thankless task of repeatedly punishing offenders, could effect all that we want. But even if they could, where shall we find our Argus or Briareus? Many an inspector of nuisances would be more rightly called Argos than Argus, Drone than Drudge. The right man will not always be appointed to the right place.' There is, therefore, but one remedy within our reach which will at all cover the whole extent of the evil; but there is one, namely, the creation-by means of education -of such an enlightened public opinion on these subjects as will constitute every intelligent and welldisposed man a vigilant and interested inspector of nuisances in his own home and neighbourhood, ready and anxious to call in, if necessary, the arm of the law, to punish offenders and enforce obedience. We must also instruct the minds of all in the great principles of health, that all stern messengers of the Divine mercy-such as cholera-shall speak to them the message which they are intended to speak to all, but which never reaches the minds of many on account of the thick veil of ignorance and prejudice with which they are surrounded. Let, then, the principles of sanitary science, the practical consequences of good and evil which flow from obeying or neglecting its laws, be thoroughly taught in all schools. Let the clergyman and schoolmaster lose no opportunity of instilling right feelings and sound practical knowledge on this subject into the minds of the children. Let books upon it be read and made the subject of conversation with the girls by the schoolmistress, while they are at their work in the afternoons, or at other times.* The advantage of teaching this science to children is by no means limited to its direct effects; it is an excellent means of mental education, and of leading them to realise the close connection between scientific knowledge and practical life. If we were content to aim only at being slave-drivers, forcing men to right conduct against their will so long as we are present to drive them to it, we might look in sanitary reform, as in other matters, to prisons, police-courts, and public officers as our chief instruments. But if we aim higher, and wish to make men willing 'bondmen of duty,' serving freely in the light of truth,' in our absence as well as in our presence, we must look in this, as in every thing, to schools as the great fountainhead whence all good is to flow. In the work of sanitary reform, as well as in all other reform, if we wish to lay the foundations of our work deep, we must look in one direction above all-that is, to education." CAUTION AS TO DATE OF APPOINTMENTS. St. Mary Church, near Torquay. SIR,-In these days, when school-teachers get so badly paid for their services as to make many wish they had not entered the profession, it is so necessary that those who remain should economise in every way possible, that I have been ind .ced to write the following, which has met with the approbation of all to whom I have mentioned it. Inasmuch as the Committee of Council on Education refuse to pay certificated teachers for a portion of a year after the first succeeding the examination for certificate, it has become very desirable that teachers leaving their present situations should do so at the time, or soon after the year of their school with the Privy Council terminates (i.e. the time whence Pupil-teachers' indentures run, when Her Majesty's Inspector's visit becomes due, &c.); and that they may know how long a time their certificate is likely to be of no pecuniary advantage to them—which I think they will generally manage to let be as short a period as possible-they need know also when the government-year of the school which they are about to take commences. I would therefore humbly sug "There is an excellent little Manual of Public Health and Domestic Economy, published by John Churchill for the Metropolitan Working Classes Association, which, besides being very well written, has the recommendation of being published by members of the working-classes. I have long made use of this as a text-book in our village school. But we very much want some lively and plainly. written treatises (perhaps they would be most effective in the form of conversations) on sanitary science for use in schools," gest to managers advertising for masters in this or any other educational periodical, the propriety of stating in the advertisement the date alluded to, thus: Indentures run from May 1st, or School-year with Privy Council commences May 1st, &c.—I am, &c. CORRESPONDENTS' ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES. A. C. M.; "E. J. G." will find the music to the round, "Say shall we roam the woods to-day," in the Standard Glee Book, No. 101, price 3d., published at the Musical Bouquet Office, 192 High Holborn. "Querist." The cards are not generally procurable unless printed to order. INFORMATION WANTED. INQUIRIES BY CORRESPONDENTS. "J. F." wants an elementary Catechism on the Truths of the Christian Religion, or on Scripture History, suitable for a second and third class in an average National School, "G. L." wants a cheap work on Mapping. "Y." asks (1.) What is meant by "Common Things;" and whether there is any Manual which would help masters, at present themselves ignorant of common things, to impart this sort of knowledge to their pupils? (2.) Have any copy-slips been published for teaching the style of writing recommended by Lord Palmerston about a year ago? "Rev. T. S." wants a list of Educational Works adapted for a seaport school. "R. W." wants a book solely on Parsing, containing a selection of sentences parsed. "W. Howell," being situated in a district where very little English is understood, finds great difficulty in making the children understand a lesson given by him or his Pupil-teachers. He wishes to know the best method of teaching English. He would be glad if any fellow-teacher would give him a word of advice. "Q." asks if there is any Letter-writer other than Cooke's to be obtained at a cheap rate and containing nothing objectionable; also whether there are any Diagrams published showing the relative sizes of weights and measures. SCHOOL SONG.-Air: "Nelly Bly." SUMMER Sun, Summer Sun, tell us where you've been? Summer Sun, Summer Sun, tell us what you bring? Bright happy thoughts, and sweet content to every living thing. Summer Sun, Summer Sun, tell us what you teach? All loving deeds, and soothing tones, and kind and gentle speech. E. E. NOTICES OF BOOKS. PUBLISHED BY NATIONAL SOCIETY. Lancashire, being No. II. of the Counties of England and Wales. 28 pages, imperial 32mo, paper cover, with a Map, 1s. 4d. a dozen. Contents: Boundaries and extent-Surface-Rivers-Geology and minerals-Climate, soil, and agriculture-Population-Occupation-Inland communication Cities and towns-History. Yorkshire, being No. III. of the Counties of England and Wales. 28 pages, imperial 32mo, paper cover, with a Map, 1s. 4d. a dozen. Contents: Same as those in Lancashire. By J. W. PARKER AND SON. Exposition of the Parables, intended chiefly for the Use of Teachers in Elementary Schools, by the Rev. John G. Lonsdale, Secretary of the National Society. 138 pages, 16mo, cloth boards, price 2s. 6d. The plan of this book is to state shortly the occasion on which each parable was delivered; to give an explanation of every difficult word or expression in the narrative itself; and to add some practical remarks, such as teachers may render in their own language to their scholars, on the moral to be drawn from it. BY W. AND R. CHAMBERS. Drawing and Perspective, Parts I. and II., by Robert Scott Burn. Seven Plates, each plate containing numerous diagrams in each Part, folio, paper cover, price 2s. per Part. These two first Parts are confined entirely to isometrical drawing. BY LONGMAN AND CO. Life and System of Pestalozzi, translated from the German of Kail von Raumer, by J. Tilleard. 80 pages, 8vo, stiff paper cover, price 3s. This translation is reprinted from the Educational Expositor. Books, &c. received. Education as it ought to be, and as it is: A Lecture delivered to Yorkshire Church Schoolmasters' Association, by J. H. Lyne. T. Harrison, Leeds, Schoolmasters' and Schoolmistresses' Associations, HUDDERSFIELD ASSOCIATION.-At the last meeting of this Association Mr. Hirst, of Thurstonland, read an able and interesting paper on Australia. In the course of the criticisms which ensued, great praise was given to the lecturer for the admirable style of composition which prevailed throughout his paper. After some discussion on the desirability of extending the library, the following resolution was submitted to the meeting and passed: "That, in the opinion of this meeting, the main objects for which the Associated Body of Church Schoolmasters was formed, viz. that of watching over the interests of schoolmasters, and affording them the means of expressing their views publicly respecting those acts of the Legislature which more immediately concern themselves, have been during the present educational dilemma, to a great extent, if not entirely, lost sight of; inasmuch as important measures, calculated to affect very materially the position and interests of teachers as well as education generally, have for some time past occupied the attention of Parliament, and no effort has been made, so far as this meeting is aware, to elicit the views of schoolmasters as a body on those measures." The subject of drawing was then introduced, and the secretary was requested to communicate with the Board of Trade, and endeavour to ascertain what grant could be made towards the instruction of masters, mistresses, and pupil-teachers in this district in the art of drawing, and on what conditions such grant, if any, would be made. CHEW DECANAL SCHOOLMASTERS' UNION.-The summer meeting of this Society was held at the National School, Portishead, on Thursday, 5th July. Present: Sir A. Elton, Sir C. Leighton; Rev. Prebs. Fagan, Symes, Barnard; Revs. E. Tinling, J. Hensman, F. Brown, G. Blackburne, W. Cartwright, J. Acre, R. Hill, G. Pigott, G. Braikenridge, C. Norman, J. Naish, G. Buckle, F. Branker, G. Wood, &c. The proceedings commenced with an examination of the children in reading, Scripture history, writing from dictation, Catechism, by Rev. E. Vaughan, Diocesan Inspector. Rev. Canon Moseley then proceeded to deliver an address to the assembled teachers. He pointed out the importance of blending together religion, science, and art. He had no sympathy with those who said they would teach the Bible, and nothing more. This was not treating the subject of Education fairly. His experience had led him to see a fearful evil in the neglect of education amongst the lower classes. Whilst the upper and middle classes had made a great advance during the last sixty years, the lower classes still continued untaught, uncivilised. He showed by educational returns, there were 2,200,000 children between the ages of 3 and 15 who were neither at school nor at work. Where, then, were they? The Registrar-General might say they were at home, for various reasons. But this would not do. The great majority of these were living in the streets of our large cities in any way they could. When children were needed for employment, they were sought from schools, not from the streets. Such a state of things threatened the dismemberment of society. He thought the only remedy was to have recourse to a general half-time measure. The Factory Act had worked well, where children were employed in print-works and cotton-works. Why should it not be extended to colliery districts and towns? Those who thought there was a sufficient amount of education throughout the country laboured under a grave error. After noticing the discouragements of the teacher, recommending them to work their schools on some favourite maxim, such as "a little and well," truthfulness," or "gentleness," and carry it out in all its bearings, the Rev. Canon concluded a most valuable and instructive lecture. Prizes were next awarded by the chairman, Rev. Prebendary Ommanney, Rural Dean, to the most successful teachers. The clergy and teachers, and their friends, to the number of 130, then adjourned for refreshment to a spacious tent erected for the occasion; and after some further discussion on educational subjects, separated, fully resolved on the vigorous prosecution of the great work of Education in their several parishes, and cheered by this opportunity of holding mutual converse and friendly interchange of thought. DERBY AND DERBYSHIRE ASSOCIATION. The members of this Society held their quarterly meeting in the Cuzon Street Schoolroom on Saturday, June 16th. The Rev. Prebendary Latham, B.D., President of the Association, took the chair. In opening the proceedings he said the Archidiaconal Board of Education were considering the propriety of holding meetings in Derby every two years for the benefit of school-teachers in the town and neighbourhood. It is proposod that meetings be held on two consecutive days about the time of corn harvest, when lectures will be given, and questions on school-management and other educational topics discussed; and to close the proceedings with a tea-meeting. The members of the Association were much pleased with the scheme, and, if carried out, will attend the meetings. The president then introduced the Rev. J. Jones, M.A., Repton, who delivered a most able and highly important lecture. He divided the subject into the following heads: 1. Remarks on the age in which we live; 2. Objects of the schoolmaster; 3. Qualifications; 4. Methods of teaching; 5. Difficulties; 6. Encouragement. The lecture was listened to with the greatest attention, and cannot fail to be productive of good results. At the unanimous request of the president and members, Mr. Jones kindly promised to allow the Association to publish the lecture, and arrangements will be made to place a copy of it in the hands of every Church schoolmaster and schoolmistress in the county. There are nineteen members of this Association, each of whom pays a subscription of two shillings half-yearly, in addition to which the following gentlemen subscribe a guinea each annually: The Venerable the Archdeacon of Derby, the Rev. J. Latham, the Rev. R. Macklin, and the Rev. C. W. Whittaker, Rural Dean. The funds are expended in fitting-up a magic lantern and solar microscope for the use of the members in their respective schools. |